THE MINIMALIST; There's Poetry In Fresh Basil

By Mark Bittman

Published: May 24, 2006

WHEN fresh basil hits the market, as it has in recent weeks, everything changes. It's not summer, but from a cooking perspective it may as well be. When I get a whiff of it in the supermarket, or when a plate of pasta with pesto makes its way into my vicinity as it did this week, I want to grab a bunch and start cooking.

When I was learning how to cook, fresh basil (I grew up with dried, a substance that we could all do without) meant pesto, and pesto meant pasta. But just as we've learned further roles for basil (including, yes, ice cream), we now know all that pesto can do, from serving as a sauce for grilled food to being the base for salad dressing.

Still, the traditional uses loom large, and one of my favorites is soupe au pistou, the Proven? creation that combines legumes, vegetables and a strong but pared-down version of pesto (no more than basil, garlic and oil) to produce a gutsy, hearty soup.

Though most traditionally done in late summer -- you want good, ripe tomatoes for this, and preferably fresh beans, like cranberry -- I make a pot of this as soon as the basil hits the market. Sometimes I make it in winter, just to remind myself that summer's coming.

The recipe is not exactly a formula, but a series of suggestions. To the experienced cook, it reads like this: Make a vegetarian vegetable soup with beans and some pasta. Right before eating, stir in a load of strong pesto and grated Parmesan.

This recipe is eminently flexible. The zucchini and tomatoes, though not absolutely essential, are Proven? classics, but you can use whatever vegetables you can find as long as you finish the thing with basil. That's what makes it soupe au pistou.

1. Put beans, onion, carrots, celery and potatoes in a large saucepan with water to cover by at least 2 inches. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 to 60 minutes (dried beans will take longer to cook than fresh), adding a little more water if necessary. When beans are just about tender, add zucchini and tomatoes and simmer for another 20 minutes or so.
2. Meanwhile, combine garlic, basil and olive oil in a food processor (or a mortar and pestle) until pasty; use a little more oil if necessary. Season with salt and pepper.
3. About 10 minutes before serving, add pasta to soup and cook until tender but not mushy; season again. Serve soup, passing pistou and Parmesan at the table.
Yield: 4 servings.